What is Narcotics Anonymous?
NA's earliest self-titled pamphlet, known among members as "the White Booklet,"
describes Narcotics Anonymous this way:
There is no social,
religious, economic, racial, ethnic, national, gender, or class-status
membership restrictions. There are no dues or fees for membership; while
most members regularly contribute small sums to help cover the expenses of
meetings, such contributions are not mandatory.
Narcotics Anonymous provides
a recovery process and support network inextricably linked together. One of
the keys to NA’s success is the therapeutic value of addicts working with
other addicts. Members share their successes and challenges in overcoming
active addiction and living drug-free productive lives through the
application of the principles contained within the Twelve Steps and Twelve
Traditions of NA. These principles are the core of the Narcotics Anonymous
recovery program. Principles incorporated within the steps include:
admitting there is a
problem;
seeking help;
engaging in a thorough
self-examination;
confidential
self-disclosure;
making amends for harm
done; and
helping
other drug addicts who want to recover.
Central to the Narcotics
Anonymous program is its emphasis on practicing spiritual principles.
Narcotics Anonymous itself is non-religious, and each member is encouraged
to cultivate an individual understanding—religious or not—of this “spiritual
awakening.”
Narcotics Anonymous is not
affiliated with other organizations, including other twelve step programs,
treatment centers, or correctional facilities. As an organization, NA does
not employ professional counselors or therapists nor does it provide
residential facilities or clinics. Additionally, the fellowship does not
provide vocational, legal, financial, psychiatric, or medical services. NA
has only one mission: to provide an environment in which addicts can help
one another stop using drugs and find a new way
to live.
In Narcotics Anonymous,
members are encouraged to comply with complete abstinence from all drugs
including alcohol. It has been the experience of NA members that complete
and continuous abstinence provides the best foundation for recovery and
personal growth. NA as a whole has no opinion on outside issues, including
prescribed medications. Use of psychiatric medication and other medically
indicated drugs prescribed by a physician and taken under medical
supervision is not seen as compromising a person’s recovery in NA.
"NA is a nonprofit fellowship or
society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. We …
meet regularly to help each other stay clean. ... We are not interested in
what or how much you used ... but only in what you want to do about your
problem and how we can help."
